Traditionally, telecommunication equipment is provided as equipment with integrated software and hardware. Virtualization technologies decouple the software and hardware, and the network function software can be executed on COTS hardware.
The mobile network will be composed of virtualized network functions and non-virtualized network elements in the future. Virtualized network functions, like traditional non-virtualized network elements, need also to be managed.
Due to the decoupling of network function software and hardware, ETSI ISG NFV introduces the NFV Management and Orchestration architecture, which interacts with 3GPP network management system, to realize the management of virtualized network functions lifecycle and resource allocation. 3GPP specifies the management solution of mobile networks that include virtualized network functions and clarifies the relationship between 3GPP management architecture and ETSI ISG NFV Management and Orchestration architecture.
The present document specifies the management concept, requirements and architecture for mobile networks that include virtualized network functions.
The present document specifies the management concepts, the management requirements and use cases from operators' perspective for mobile networks that include virtualized network functions which can be part of EPC or IMS, and provides the management architecture for these mobile networks.
The following documents contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of the present document.
References are either specific (identified by date of publication, edition number, version number, etc.) or non-specific.
For a specific reference, subsequent revisions do not apply.
For a non-specific reference, the latest version applies. In the case of a reference to a 3GPP document (including a GSM document), a non-specific reference implicitly refers to the latest version of that document in the same Release as the present document.
ETSI GS NFV-IFA 013 v2.1.1: "Network Function Virtualization (NFV); Management and Orchestration; Os-Ma-nfvo Reference Point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
ETSI GS NFV-IFA 008 v2.1.1: "Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV); Management and Orchestration; Ve-Vnfm Reference Point - Interface and Information Model Specification".
TS 28.510: " Telecommunication management; Configuration Management (CM) for mobile networks that include virtualized network functions; Requirements".
For the purposes of the present document, the terms and definitions given in TR 21.905, TS 32.101, TS 32.111-1, TS 32.150, TS 32.401 and the following apply. A term defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same term, if any, in TR 21.905.
Consumer Role:
See service consumer in clause 5 of TS 32.101. See consumer in ETSI GS NFV-MAN 001 [3]).
For the purposes of the present document, the abbreviations given in TR 21.905 and the following apply. An abbreviation defined in the present document takes precedence over the definition of the same abbreviation, if any, in TR 21.905.
CAPEX